A Doll and a Brooch.

Last week I started a doll from one of the patterns I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. I was really looking forward to making her and I have been sharing my progress on my facebook fan page which you can find HERE. Unusually for me the progress has been slower than normal, though I expect that the time spent making is exactly the same, its just taken a couple of weeks instead of 3 days. I think it has been good that I have taken my time as I did have a few problems. First was the start of this week I didn't like the colour of the trim so I had to go on the internet and order an alternative. Luckily the order arrived quickly so yesterday I was able to continue. Then came another problem I was reading the pattern and it was missing a diagram but it wasn't too hard to work out. So the doll is now nearly done I've just got her hair to do, I'm just trying to decide on what style to do but a fishtail braid is top of the list. She will hopefully be finished and a pic will be on facebook on monday. 

I made this brooch years ago and I blogged about in August 2010 which seems a long time ago now. I did enjoy making it and I remember I had to make about 3 more for some of my customers at a jewellery party. So why am I talking about a design I made years ago? well  this brooch is from my second most viewed blog post. It has made me think of remaking this design again sometime as it would fit in with my jewellery in my etsy store. But first I need to finish that doll.

Until next time

Victoria xx

Spring Elves

Its a normal day here grey with mizzle, it feels like it been grey and wet forever and I'm wishing for spring to arrive. With Spring in mind a few weeks back I decided I wanted to paint some elves in spring colours. I had also decided I wanted to offer my customers a basic elf in a choice of colours and sizes. This is the first time I have had the tiny elf for sale online they have only ever been available as part of a set or at craft fairs. I already had in mind the colours I wanted to use my favourite pastel paints, pink, yellow, blue and green and of course I have matching felt for the hats. I think they look lovely and spring like. 

 With spring in my mind I had a flash of inspiration for a special oriental elf, this was going to be tricky as I wanted to paint a decoration on her body. I had to wait between coats to produce the effect I wanted and then I added some crystals and Blossom the oriental elf was done with hand painted cherry blossom on her body. 

All of these elves are now available in my ETSY shop.

See you next time

Victoria xx

P.S. Mizzle is a local word for mist and drizzly rain 

Fabric Fun

At the weekend I was in my local town Bude having my haircut and I decided to pop into the fabric shop. I love going into the shop it's stuffed full of rolls of fabric and trims. I usually end up buying metre or so of shot taffetas or organza. They also have boxes of fabric squares that are the size of a fat quarter or smaller, I love rummaging through these boxes especially as they are perfect for clothing for my cloth dolls. This week I was going to just buy a few squares but it ended up a lot of squares especially as my daughter wanted some as well, but I have a lovely pile of fabric to add to my stash along with a large piece of black faux leather which is ideal for doll shoes or boots. 

The main reason for visiting the fabric shop was I treated myself to a new cloth doll book, a couple of patterns and tools before Christmas. I'm hoping to make a start on a doll either the end of this week or early next week. The book and one of the patterns are by Barbara Willis, the dolls are just beautiful with a victorian / edwardian feel and made of scrumptious looking fabrics. The tools are perhaps a bit boring really I've added a pair of curved forceps / hemostats to my work box and a stuffing fork which will help stuff the dolls, I usually use forceps and a chopstick but it is nice to have a special tool occasionally. 

Until next time

Victoria xx

Bird Feeder Challenge and Wild Weather

Well its been a very stormy start to our New Year, with storm surges, heavy rain and flooding. Our local beach is made of stones and is often changed by the storms so it will be interesting to see how it has fared during the recent storms, I will have to go see when the sea is a lot calmer. 

Apart from the wild weather I took part in a challenge on the Craft Pimp Forum. We had to make bird feeders from only recycled or items you had available at home apart from seed and fat. It was a great idea and I thought I would get my children involved. First we had to decide what type of feeder we wanted to make, fat balls was the main idea as they are easy to make and all we needed to get was some lard.

 I really wanted to push the seeded fat into some pinecones but we didn't have any so we had to have a search about the house to find something.

We eventually found and old soda water bottle, a fizzy pop bottle, an old plastic cup, some shoe laces (instead of string) and my son found a stick from the garden. The soda bottle was turned into a seed feeder by just cutting some holes in the bottle and pushing the stick through for a perch. With the other items we mixed up two blocks of lard and added seed and then filled the containers with the mix after adding the shoe laces. As we had melted the lard slightly we had to let the feeders harden a bit so we just left the out in our porch which at this time of year is nice and cold.

We were going to put the feeders out yesterday but we still had very strong winds and the bird feeding station / pole was swaying a lot in the wind. I did put one feeder out today even though its still a bit blowy, I haven't seen many birds out there today apart from the odd curious Blue Tit. 

Until next time

Victoria xx